Moreover, countering potential co-orbital ASATs would require detection and tracking to occur very shortly after launch. A solution to this problem,-to the extent it is a problem,-may require a system that could track a satellite as soon as it is released from its rocket booster. A space-based tracking system, such as the proposed SBIRS-Low missile defense system, might be capable of carrying out this mission. However, even in this case, small satellites could be secretly launched from larger satellites. This capability has already been demonstrated by the Orbiting Picosatellite Automatic Launcher (OPAL) program, developed by Stanford University. It consisted of a "mothership" satellite that housed and successfully launched six "daughtership" satellites that each weighed a kilogram or less. The design is similar to the one reported by a Chinese news agency and cited in the Rumsfeld report as a "parasitic satellite" ASAT system.

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Lewis, Leo and Phillip E. Coyle. Ensuring America's Space Security. Washington, D.C.: Federation of American Scientists, September 2004. [ 7 quotes ] [ page 18 ]